I haven't been quite diligent with this little blog of mine but I'm now back in the building and more fired up than ever (and of course after this blogging sesh, I shall be more behind with my readings than ever!). I want to take some time to discuss the KONY 2012 phenomenon that has taken the world of social networking by storm. If you haven't seen or heard (it's pretty much everywhere, even in public toilets), KONY 2012 has been on the lips of every person with access to some form of social media for the past week or so. He is the big, bad, black guy who has terrorised the inhabitants of villages in northern Uganda and taken the lives of many in order to further the ranks of his army, the Lord's Resistance Movement/Army (LRM/A). What is most horrifying about Kony and the LRM/A is their disregard for human life as they've been accused of gross human rights violations which include the recruitment of child soldiers, mutilation of men and women, cannibalism and child-sex slavery. The movement which preceded The LRM/A was the Holy Spirit Movement, established by Alice Lakwena in 1988, who stated that she was a prophet who received messages from God through the Holy Spirit. Although Lakwena sought to distance herself from Kony as she was weary of his murderous ways, Kony stated that they were cousins and the same mystical powers which she possessed, were bestowed upon him too. This, however, was a ploy to lure more followers to his army.
Now I do not want to bore you with historical facts, but they are incredibly important in understanding the context in which the LRM/A was created and so on. From as early as the 4th century BC (I believe in Christ; hence I use BC), Uganda has been divided along ethnic lines. To cut a long story short, the Baganda (Bantu-speaking) people of the south and east of Uganda have constantly been in competition, so to speak with the Acholi of the north in terms of economic and social structures. The Baganda worked very closely with the British during the time of colonialism while the Acholi supplied most of the manual labour and contributed heavily towards the military. Thus, the south and east of Uganda - with its rich and fertile soil - became the centre of all agricultural activities in Uganda and a rather prosperous area in which to life; the north on the other hand, became quite poor and the divide between the two blocs became increasingly evident as Uganda received independence from Britain in 1962. Hence, the Holy Spirit Movement's desire to promote the people of the north and also to protect them, justifiably, from the ethnic cleansing that were taking place at the time. Both Kony and Lakwena believed that the Lord wanted the Acholi to defeat the then president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni and that they would stay protected from bullets by smearing shea nut oil on themselves. Lakwena's methods remained rather peaceful as she stated that the use of Acholi witchcraft and spirtualism would defeat the leader of Uganda. Kony's, however, were brutal and he continued his reign of terror not only on Ugandans but ALSO on the people of South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic of Congo. He is now believed to be residing in the Central African Republic.
In 2005, The International Criminal Court issued the arrest of Kony along with his deputy Vincent Otti and fellow commanders Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen. The UN's Ban Ki-moon has condemned the LRM/A's actions "strongest possible terms" but the organisation, typically, has done very little to do something actionable about Kony's deplorable acts. Surprisingly, the USA have been the most determined in terms of stopping Kony and his cronies. In 2010, Obama passed the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act and has been very vocal about raising funds to disarm Kony. In 2011, he announced that he ordered the deployment of 100 US military-advisers to help combat the LRM/A. I must admit, for America, this is quite outstanding. But something about deploying advisers to help stop Kony is very reminiscent of Vietnam and how towards the end of the war, America slowly withdrew her troops and sent advisers to train the south Vietnamese insofar that they would eventually secede and take over the north. Moreover, I find it quite arrogant of the Obama administration to think that sending 100 advisers would help bring down a army that is estimated to have over 3 000 soldiers - 1 500 of whom are children and women. I do not want to make this a 'slate America' post because they have been the most pro-active in terms of the Kony predicament, but I find it quite condescending and rather disappointing that they think it would be easy to get rid of the LRM/A. It just feels as thought America is making the same pitfalls as she did in Vietnam; namely, underestimating the power of guerrillas.
Anyway, after that lecture on Ugandan history, here is my problem with KONY 2012. There is no doubt that this man is a monster. More than a monster even; he cannot be called a human being for his callous and cruel actions. However, just because someone is being depicted as a bad guy, does not mean we are to ignore the intentions of the people who are giving us this depiction. I know that the Invisible Children have been getting a lot of flack lately and I quite honestly can understand why. But I do not want to slate them because their credentials speak for themselves and it won't help in any way, if I criticise a bunch of ignoramuses. I do however, criticise the manner in which people have handled the KONY 2012 project. As opposed to creating forums in which the crisis in northern Uganda can be discussed, people have simply put 'KONY 2012' as their status on Facebook and deluded themselves into thinking that they've made some sort of a difference or raised some sort of awareness. This is rather idealistic; laughable even. You may have informed the next person that there is a man out there who is committing atrocities, which is great but to feel that you have accomplished something for having done so is unacceptable. Additionally, it is an insult to those Ugandans who are risking their lives to escape Kony or taking to the streets to declare his arrest. These are the real heroes. The people who are making a real difference. I, by no stretch of the imagination, can and have the courage to do what they are doing but I'm trying to make my difference - the non-lazy way. I've written to my government, demanding that they encourage the UN and the USA to initiate immediate military intervention to find Kony. I've taken to Twitter to encourage those I know to create forums in which people can discuss ways in which they can appeal to their governments to contribute to Uganda - even if it means medical aid or food contributions.
I really discourage people to simply jump on this bandwagon and feel as though they've changed the world for the better. Because you haven't. The KONY 2012 phenomenon is an apt example of just how lazy, we as a society have become. We like to think we give a damn but if you scratch the supposedly saintly surface of the KONY 2012 advocators, you will find a group of people who are ignorant to the complexities of the situations in Uganda and who could not even point out Uganda to you on a map. Let's get serious about raising awareness. It's not as simple as typing a couple of letters on your keyboard and clicking, well, 'post'.
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